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Yes, more headaches, and again it's the Van Konijnenburg set I'm bothered about! This here is a colour proof of the 15c ultramarine. Or, well, I hope so anyway.

Now normally you can tell most colour proofs apart from the real stuff because they're either imperforate or they're in a colour which was not chosen. The problem with this example here is that it is in the chosen colour and on top of that, the fact that it is imperforate is no guarantee either. Apparently, stocks of unfinished stamps (printed but not yet perforated or gummed) haven fallen into the wrong hands and have ended up on the philatelic market.

Now that's all very fine but does that mean that there is absolutely no way of telling which is which? If you happen to know, enlighten me, please! Until then, I'll just mount it with a proviso.

Oh dear, the title sounds rather ominous, but don't worry, it isn't really.

Yes, it does mean that this is the end of this blog. But fear not: I have been invited to start blogging for Stamp Magazine, so if you like what I've done so far, I would welcome you heartily to my new blog, which you can find here:

Gentlemen
I believe it was the Dutch engraver Sem Hartz who once said when talking about recess-printed stamps that they are the gentlemen among stamps. And how true is that! He had just as outspoken an idea about multicoloured stamps: rubbish! In his view a well-engraved stamp only needed one colour. So he would hopefully have been pleased if he could have seen this post of mine, for it will feature nothing but monocoloured recess-printed stamps!
I'm still ploughing through the stamps I got from my friend Paulo, you see, and there's quite a few of recess-printed stamps among them. The set that I like in particular is the 1966 set to mark the Tercentenary of the Solemn Promise to Our Lady of Luxembourg. In plainer English this means that in 1666 the Mother of God was chosen as Patron Saint for the City of Luxembourg. The stamps are engraved by abovementioned Sem Hartz and are absolute gems. He seems to have a bit of a fussy style, but there's so much to see on these, it'…